APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The Organised Labour in Nigeria has demanded the upward review of the retirement age from 60 to 65 years and from 35 years to 40 years of service for all public servants.
Addressing Nigerian workers at the Eagle Square Abuja on Monday in commemoration of this year’s Workers Day Celebration, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajaero, stated that equity, fairness and justice are necessary for the survival of societies in the midst of upheavals and turbulence.
He said that Nigeria needed the presence of this mass to jump start the process of development.
Ajaero lamented that poor wages, abuse of workplace rights and privileges as well as unpaid salaries were denying workers of their rights.
The Organised Labour, according to him, also demands that an independent panel should be set up to investigate the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and his team over their conduct in the 2023 general elections.
He also said that the purchase of 10 fire trucks at the cost of N12 billion by the Ministry of Aviation should be investigated.
In his speech at the event, the President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Festus Osifo, decried the state of the Nigerian economy, which according to him, is on auto pilot, struggling to survive while those engaged to manage it have kept throwing filth and injecting toxins into it.
He described as unfortunate, a situation which the country is led by men and women, who delight in enacting policies that are detrimental to the progress of the nation, including the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) currency redesigning policy.
This year’s celebration, attended by past and present leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) as well as those of other affiliate unions, has as its theme ‘Workers’ Rights and Socioeconomic Justice’.
Other special guests, who attended the ceremony included the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha; Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige; Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Alhaji Mohammed Bello, Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Pauline Tallen and presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, Mr. Peter Obi.
GIK/APA